1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network device management apparatus which remotely manages network devices connected to a network, and a device management method in that apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in order to manage network devices, it is a common practice to use an independent information processing apparatus as a network device management apparatus independently of devices to be managed. In such a system, the management apparatus itself never becomes a management target. For this reason, the influence of execution of a management operation for a management target device on the management apparatus itself need not be considered. In this system, target devices are detected from a network, and are recorded in a device list in an order they are detected. In general, management operation targets are selected based on that device list, and the management operation is applied to the selected devices in the order they are described in the device list (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-337771 (p. 12, FIG. 8, etc.))
Some conventional systems adopt the following means upon changing the settings of nodes connected to a network. That is, a setting change route is generated based on connection states of network connection points of the nodes on a connection route in the network. Then, the settings are changed in turn from devices farther from the network connection point of the management apparatus in the route (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-171255 (p. 5, FIG. 2, etc.))
In another conventional system, a device has a server function, and provides a means for managing the settings of that device via that server (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-285324 (p. 27, FIG. 2, etc.))
Furthermore, in still another conventional system, devices have server functions that solely manage themselves, and display links by notifying each other of the links based on the HTTP protocol. Such system is contributory to individual management of a plurality of devices by the user (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-239136 (p. 6, FIG. 2, etc.) or Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-099472 (p. 4, FIG. 1, etc.))
However, of the aforementioned related arts, in the system in which a device itself has a server function of managing the device settings, only the settings of that device are managed.
Of the related arts, devices have server functions, and the server functions of a plurality of devices automatically detect and display links. However, even in such system, the settings of devices have to be managed individually, and the settings cannot be executed for a plurality of devices at the same time.
Furthermore, the aforementioned related art that simultaneously applies a management operation to a plurality of devices does not consider any system in which the management apparatus itself is a management target. Therefore, when the management apparatus itself is a management target, if a management operation is applied to a plurality of devices, the management operation for the management apparatus itself or other devices may often fail due to the influence of a status change of the management apparatus as a result of execution of the management operation to the management apparatus itself and the like.
The related arts include the management apparatus that considers the setting execution order of devices. Even in such case, the management apparatus itself merely undergoes setting lastly as a closest node on the connection route. Therefore, a case in which an operation is inhibited from being executed for a management target device and a case in which a management operation for an arbitrary device fails if an operation is executed for that device after other devices cannot be appropriately processed.